THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1934. First Edition. Cain's first novel, in which "an itinerant worker and the young wife of the Greek owner of a roadside lunchroom near Los Angeles plot her husband's murder. The first attempt fails; the second succeeds. What follows is guilt, suspicion, betrayal, their own deaths, and a novel that anticipated the trend of existentialism in fiction" (Baird 379). A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone title, and one of the defining works of crime fiction to come out of the Great Depression. Basis for Tay Garnett's classic 1946 film noir starring John Garfield and Lana Turner, and a 1981 remake starring Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange. Hubin, p.61. First Printing. Octavo (19.25cm); orange cloth, blocked and titled in dark blue on spine and front cover; dark blue topstain; dustjacket; [viii],[2],3-187,[5]pp. Gentle sunning to spine, light wear to extremities, touch of dust-soil and a few faint foxed spots to covers, with subtle offsetting to endpapers, and three tiny spots to right edge of textblock; a solidly Very Good+ copy. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $2.00), gently spine-sunned, lightly edgeworn, tiny nicks to crown and lower front flap fold, with some faint, scattered foxing, and a half-dozen stains to lower spine panel (both noticeable chiefly on verso); an unrestored, Very Good+ example.